How complex are those XPath expression? If they are simple and do not require backtracking, then XML::Twig is ideal for it: set the twig_roots option to a hash <xpath> => 1, then use the twig_print_outside_roots option to output the rest of the XML. See "Building an XML filter" in the docs for an example of that kind of processing, and "twig_handlers" to see the subset of XPath that you can use in this mode.

Alternatively you can use XML::Twig::XPath, parse the file, then go through you list of XPath expressions, use findnodes to get the hits, and delete them.

Beyond XML::Twig, you could try XML::LibXML, which also supports XPath. it is faster and better maintained than XML::XPath. Processing would be the same as above.

LPC2010:

You should really learn how to browse around on CPAN for the interesting words in your question. For example, searching for XML and XPATH quickly turns up XML::XPath, which may be more useful to you than XML::Twig (or may not, I don't do much XML processing here). Spend a little time reading the documentation for some of the XML and XPATH modules on CPAN, and you'll be able to get started.

...roboticus